Favourite Recipes #2 Apple and Blackberry Tray Bake

This is a recipe I have wanted to try for a while and the opportunity came when our latest Asda food delivery substituted some fruit we ordered for blackberries.

So this is the recipe I used to make them, and they taste really good, perfect for packed lunches and last for about 3 days, if you don't eat them all first!

Apple and Blackberry Tray Bake

100g softened butter

175g self raising flour

1tsp baking powder

175g golden caster sugar

2 eggs

1 lemon rind

1 Cox's apple, diced

150g blackberries

1) Preheat the oven to Gas 5, 190 c, fan 170 c. Line a shallow 20cm (8in) square cake tin with baking parchment.

2) Place all the ingredients, except the apple and blackberries, into a large mixing bowl and beat with a wooden spoon until smooth.

3) Stir in the apple and blackberries and spread into the tin. Bake for 30-35 minutes until golden and the centre is firm to touch.

4) leave in tin for 10 minutes before turning out and allowed to cool completely. Cut into squares. Keeps for 3 days.

Wedding Idea: Bunting

I currently have a massive bag of flowery bedding you're likely to see in your Grandma's bedroom sitting in the living room. I asked family for fabric with pink/cream/burgundy flowers and patterns and have been inundated with donations!

The reason for this is, instead of having fresh flowers decorating the church, we're going for bunting. I didn't have it in mind straight away, it just came to me as I thought about how to decorate the church and the idea of having lengths of brightly coloured bunting hanging in the church really appealed to me. It's also good for a wedding on a budget and recycling materials.

We're also using bunting in the church hall and at the evening reception venue.

I got the pattern from this website: http://rosalindgracedesigns.blogspot.co.uk/2009/04/free-bunting-template-and-tutorial.html

All you need is old cotton bedsheets/shirts, bias binding, pins, thread, sewing machine, cardboard template of the size of bunting you want and a good pair of dress making scissors.

Bias binding is the long strip of fabric holding it all together. I got a 50 metre roll for about £7 from Amazon. I've been making bunting 5 metres in length.

Bunting is a quick and cheap way to decorate any venue for any occasion. I think it's perfect for a summer party and gives a vintage nostalgic feel.

Gift Idea #1 Mini Canvas

Friends' birthdays often have the habit of sneaking up on you and when you finally realise, you either have no time or money to get them a present. At the moment, money is often tight for me, so I came up with an idea to make a unique present that my friends' would love that was quick to make and affordable.

I have a box at home full of little bits and bobs I've found lying around, including broken brooches, bows and ribbons off packaging and chocolate boxes, buttons, little bells off the Lindt Chocolate Bunnies :) and lots of other things.

I was given a sparkly butterfly by a friend, which use to be on a ring but fell off and had another butterfly that use to be a brooch. I really wanted to use these in a project and one day I was in The Works bookshop and they sell mini canvases on easels for 99p each. I bought two and knew that I wanted to combine the two things in some way.

At home I used acrylic paints and painted the two canvases (which was quick as they are so small!) and when the paint was dried wrote the names of the friends on them with gold or silver pens and superglued the butterflies onto them.

The great thing about this idea is you can use anything instead of butterflies, maybe something that reflects your friend or something they like, as long as it's small and not too heavy. You could use any colour paint and because it's small, it could put it anywhere on a shelf, table or desk and just sit there looking all decorative and pretty :)

How to make a skirt out of a pair of jeans

We've all been there. You put on your most favourite, comfortable jeans that you have had for ages and then discover a massive hole or rip in an unfortunate place. What do you do? Well if you can't bear to throw them away, why not turn them into a skirt?

This is what I'd done with my jeans that have had holes worn into them. (The picture above is the 1st ever skirt I made and used it as a distraction from packing!)

1) cut off the legs a couple of centimetres down from the rip or hole (so it looks like really short shorts)

2) Using an thread unpicker (you can get them from haberdashery shops and online) unpick the seams up the inside legs to the crotch so it looks like an untidy skirt.

3) on the front and the back of the skirt, lie the seams that would have formed the seat of the jeans to the side and pin down.  Cut off any material that hangs down to create a straight hem.

4) Using thread that is a similar colour to the originial thread, use back stitch to stitch the seams down. Do this on the front and back of the skirt.

 5) I tried to do a similar style seam to the original one so it blended in better, however you can do whatever you like to your own skirt.

6) And after that you have your finished skirt! If you want to, you could do a hem around the bottom of the skirt if you don't like the deconstructed look that much. Also you could embellish it with sequins, ribbons, buttons etc or even sew some fabric around the bottom of the skirt to give it a really cute country look.

Hope this inspires to recycle your jeans and that you give it a go :)

Don't know what to do with the left over legs? I have an idea for a rug but that will be another post ;P

My Favourite Recipes #1 Honey and Soy Glazed Chicken

At home I have a massive folder full of recipes I've ripped out of magazines, mostly the ones you pick up for free at supermarkets.
This recipe was actually from an advert for Amoy Dark Soy Sauce and it was one of my favourite recipes as a student (and still is) mostly because it is so tasty and you only need 4 ingredients for the marinade, so it's so quick and easy to make.

Honey and Soy Glazed Chicken

1) Mix 3 tbsp Dark soy sauce + 3 tsp honey + 1tsp lemon juice + pinch of black pepper.
2) Pour half of the marinade over 2 chicken breasts and leave for 5 mins.
3) In a shallow tray, grill chicken on a medium heat for 15 minutes. While grilling continue to pour the remaining marinade over the chicken.
4) Serve immediately.

This really tasty with noodles or rice and in a stir fry. Hope you like it!

My Handmade Wedding Bouquet

I'm getting married in about 3 months time and I'm making my own bouquet as fresh flowers can be so expensive and I wanted something totally unique and different. I had the idea to make knitted flowers for my bouquet and found a rose pattern online. It consists of five individual petals that you wrap around and sew together. I've made nearly a 100 already and now know the pattern by heart, (and already getting sick of it!).

The colours are cream and burgundy/deep red and most of the yarn was donated by family and friends. I bought a piece of ribbon for 15p and a polystyrene ball for £2.50 off Amazon. I did buy one previous but accidentally melted it with super glue :s so had to buy another one and stuck the two halves together with PVA glue and lots of pins.

To secure the roses to the ball, I bought 100 diamante corsage pins off Amazon (love Amazon) for £3.25. They're 1.5 inches long and the 'diamantes' are actually made out of plastic and on their own they don't look like anything special but in the rose they take on a different life and look so pretty. I have recently ordered another 3 boxes as I've got a quarter left of the ball to cover and also need to do the bridesmaids' bouquets too (there will be probably another post about them later).

So I estimate that my bouquet alone has cost me under £15 for materials, though has cost a lot of time for labour, but since I'm unemployed I have the luxury of time!

So far I'm really pleased with the result and can't wait for it to be finished. I hope you like it too :)

if you're interested in the knitting pattern here it is :)

Rose Corsage (Copyright Alison Hogg 2009) for personal use only

Materials

3.00mm needles

scraps of double knitting yarn

brooch back

Abbreviations

k = knit

p = purl

sl = slip

st(s) = stitch(es)

psso = pass slip st over

inc = increase (k into front and back of st)

Inner Petal
Cast on 7 sts, leaving a long yarn tail for sewing up.

ROW 1 : k.

ROW 2 : p (right side).

ROW 3 : sl1 k’wise, k to end of row.

ROW 4 : p.

ROW 5 : sl1 k’wise, k to end of row.

ROW 6 : p.

ROW 7 : sl1 k’wise, k1, psso, k to end of row (6 sts).

ROW 8 : p.

ROW 9 : sl1 k’wise, k to end of row.

ROW 10 : p.

ROW 11 : sl1 k’wise, k1, psso, k to end of row (5 sts).

ROW 12 : p.

ROW 13 : sl1 k’wise, k to end of row.

ROW 14 : p.

Cast off k’wise.

Middle Petals (make 2)

Cast on 4 sts.

ROW 1 : k.

ROW 2 : p.

ROW 3 : inc every st (8 sts). (recommended inc - kfb)

ROW 4 : p.

ROW 5 : inc every st (16 sts).

ROW 6 : sl1 p’wise, p to end of row.

ROW 7 : sl1 k’wise, k to end of row.

ROW 8 : sl1 p’wise, p to end of row.

ROW 9 : sl1 k’wise, k1, psso, k to last 2 sts, (k2tog) (14 sts).

ROW 10 : sl1 p’wise, p to end of row.

ROW 11 : sl1 k’wise, k1, psso, k to last 2 sts, (k2tog) (12 sts).

ROW 12 : sl1 p’wise, p to end of row.

ROW 13 : sl1 k’wise, k1, psso, k to last 2 sts (k2tog) (10 sts).

ROW 14 : sl1 p’wise, p to end of row.

Cast off k’wise.

Large Outer petal (make 2)

Cast on 5 sts.

ROW 1 : k.

ROW 2 : p.

ROW 3 : inc every st (10 sts).

ROW 4 : p.

ROW 5 : inc every st (20 sts).

ROW 6 : sl1 p’wise, p to end of row.

ROW 7 : sl1 k’wise, k to end of row.

ROW 8 : sl1 p’wise, p to end of row.

ROW 9 : sl1 k’wise, k1, psso, k to last 2 sts, (k2tog) (18 sts).

ROW 10 : sl1 p’wise, p to end of row.

ROW 11 : sl1 k’wise, k1, psso, k to last 2 sts, (k2tog) (16 sts).

ROW 12 : sl1 p’wise, p to end of row.

ROW 13 : sl1 k’wise, k1, psso, k to last 2 sts, (k2tog) (14 sts).

ROW 14 : sl1 p’wise, p to end of row.

ROW 15 : sl1 k’wise, k1, psso, k to last 2 sts, (k2tog) (12 sts).

ROW 16 : sl1 p’wise, p to end of row.

Cast off k’wise.

Leaf
Cast on 3 sts with green yarn.

ROW 1 : k.

ROW 2 : p.

ROW 3 : inc1, inc1, k (5 sts). (recommended inc - kfb)

ROW 4 : sl1 p’wise, p to end of row.

ROW 5 : sl1 k’wise, inc1, inc1, k2 (7 sts).

ROW 6 : sl1 p’wise, p to end of row.

ROW 7 : sl1 k’wise, k1, inc1, inc1, k3 (9 sts).

ROW 8 : sl1 p’wise, p to end of row.

ROW 9 : sl1 k’wise, k2, inc1, inc1, k4 (11 sts).

ROW 10 : sl1 p’wise, p to end of row.

ROW 11 : Cast off 1 k’wise, k to end of row (10 sts).

ROW 12 : Cast off 1 p’wise, p to end of row (9 sts).

Rpt ROWS 11 – 12 until 1st remains (purl row).

Fasten off.

To Assemble Rose

1. Weave all loose yarns away - down the edge of the petals, except for the tail at the cast on edge of the Inner Petal.

2. Place the Inner Petal piece flat, purl side down. Cast on edge is at the side and the decreasing edge is at the top. Starting at the cast on edge roll the petal tightly, so that purl side is turned to face outwards. 

3. Sew the base firmly together with the yarn tail.

4. Wrap the four petals around the inner petal, with the purl side facing towards the inner petal and the cast on end at the base. Stagger the two middle petals and then the two large ones . Sew each petal firmly to the base and bottom edge of petals as you go. Keep the petals tight.

5. Attach the leaf (knit side facing outwards) to the back of rose